4 years ago
LORNA CUBILLO
MARK DREYFUS QC MP
Federal Labor expresses our deep sorrow at the passing of Lorna Cubillo, who led the landmark Stolen Generations case against the Commonwealth.
Lorna Cubillo was a quiet but bravely determined woman who never gave up on her fight to right the terrible wrong inflicted on her and her people when she was taken from her family aged just eight, and placed in Darwin's Retta Dixon Home.
Ms Cubillo felt that loss of connection all her life and later recalled the day she was taken from her family and put on a truck to Darwin “mothers beating their heads with sticks and rocks” and "they threw dirt over themselves. We were all crying on the truck."
Although that injustice was perpetrated by the Australian Government, Prime Minister Howard refused, year after year, to apologise on behalf of the Government to the victims of that heartless policy. In many ways this refusal perpetuated the original injustice.
Ms Cubillo’s pursuit of justice was opposed by just about every office of the Commonwealth, as the Howard Government poured taxpayer resources into the fight against her, using every possible legal tactic to defeat her claim.
After losing her original challenge Ms Cubillo declared "My heart's here, my spirit's here. I might have lost the case but my spirit will never be broken".
For all of us who worked with her on that case, her courage and strength, even in the face of that bitter defeat, was – and remains to this day – an inspiration.
That strength carried Lorna through the intervening years until 2008, when she attended Parliament House to personally hear Kevin Rudd’s bold, moving and long-overdue apology to the Stolen Generations, delivered by the new Prime Minister on behalf of the nation.
And in 2017 her spirit triumphed when she, and other children from Retta Dixon Home, were finally awarded compensation after a successful class action against the Commonwealth.
Lorna Cubillo was a quiet but bravely determined woman who never gave up on her fight to right the terrible wrong inflicted on her and her people when she was taken from her family aged just eight, and placed in Darwin's Retta Dixon Home.
Ms Cubillo felt that loss of connection all her life and later recalled the day she was taken from her family and put on a truck to Darwin “mothers beating their heads with sticks and rocks” and "they threw dirt over themselves. We were all crying on the truck."
Although that injustice was perpetrated by the Australian Government, Prime Minister Howard refused, year after year, to apologise on behalf of the Government to the victims of that heartless policy. In many ways this refusal perpetuated the original injustice.
Ms Cubillo’s pursuit of justice was opposed by just about every office of the Commonwealth, as the Howard Government poured taxpayer resources into the fight against her, using every possible legal tactic to defeat her claim.
After losing her original challenge Ms Cubillo declared "My heart's here, my spirit's here. I might have lost the case but my spirit will never be broken".
For all of us who worked with her on that case, her courage and strength, even in the face of that bitter defeat, was – and remains to this day – an inspiration.
That strength carried Lorna through the intervening years until 2008, when she attended Parliament House to personally hear Kevin Rudd’s bold, moving and long-overdue apology to the Stolen Generations, delivered by the new Prime Minister on behalf of the nation.
And in 2017 her spirit triumphed when she, and other children from Retta Dixon Home, were finally awarded compensation after a successful class action against the Commonwealth.